Recessional
by Angus MacSpon
Summary: After the fall of the Moon Kingdom ... a queen lies dying. Then she has an unexpected visitor ...


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"Recessional"  
by Angus MacSpon  
  
Based on "Sailor Moon" created by Naoko Takeuchi.  
  
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"The tumult and the shouting dies;  
The Captains and the Kings depart..."  
-- Rudyard Kipling  
  
  
-1-  
  
And so it was over. Mostly, she felt tired: a deep, bone-deep  
weariness. That was a relief, in a way. She had expected pain.  
  
She lay on a bed of rubble beneath a dark sky. There was a thin, chill  
wind blowing, stirring the dust around her. In a little while, she  
knew, the sky would be much darker; and the wind ... it would blow, and  
blow, and then there would be an end to everything.  
  
Above, the heavens were full of stars. They shone brilliantly, brighter  
than she had ever seen them. Once, not so very long ago, such a night  
would have been occasion for celebration, for joy and laughter and love  
beneath the glittering sky. Now, there was nobody left to celebrate;  
and the brightness of the stars had another, grimmer meaning.  
  
[Did I do well?] she wondered. A victory had been won, yes, but at such  
great cost. [Might there have been another way?]  
  
[Oh, my daughter ...]  
  
The tears dried in her eyes, unshed. She did not have the energy to  
weep.  
  
Her eyelids closed for a moment. A great silence fell. She seemed to  
see a vast, shadowy plane beneath a starry sky. Something stirred,  
far-off: a vague, indistinct shape on the horizon. And then her eyes  
opened again, and the ruins were all around her once more, and the  
gentle sighing of the wind. The sky was perceptibly darker.  
  
She breathed a silent laugh. She had not expected to dream. At the  
very least, she had not expected to awaken.  
  
Behind her, far off, there was a sound of pebbles shifting. Movement  
amidst the wreckage. [Another ghost come to haunt the ruins,] she  
thought with bitter humour. [Did I fail, then? Did some of the  
invaders survive?]  
  
It hardly mattered. Soon enough, the ruins would be lifeless.  
  
She heard rocks shifting, the crunching of stone. Footsteps coming  
toward her. And then a voice, long-remembered, spoke.  
  
"My queen ..."  
  
With a great effort she lifted her head. Her eyes swam for a few  
seconds, then cleared. "You," she whispered.  
  
"Yes. Oh, my queen ... I could not ... you knew I could not ..."  
  
"Hush. Of course I knew." She coughed; and for the first time, there  
was pain. When she could speak again she said, "You did what was  
necessary." After a moment she added, "You all did ..."  
  
The newcomer sat down in the rubble at the queen's side. If the broken  
stone was uncomfortable, the newcomer gave no sign. "I ... didn't know  
if I'd find you or not."  
  
"Alive, you mean?" The queen breathed a laugh: all the laughter that  
was left in her. "Not for much longer, I think. It is all gone. I  
used it all up."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Of course you do. Ahh ..." The pain came again, and the world went  
dark. Dark, and full of knives.  
  
At last, she found she could see again. The other was still at her  
side. "Still there?" she whispered. "Good. I am glad to have a  
friend, at the end."  
  
The other looked down at her, eyes wet with tears. The queen tried to  
lift a hand to brush them away, but found she could no longer move her  
arm. "You, crying?" she murmured. "Surely not."  
  
The other laughed through tears of grief. "I do cry. Sometimes." And  
then, stirring: "My queen, I could take you indoors ... make you more  
comfortable ..."  
  
"I don't think you'd find any 'indoors' left," the queen said. "Not for  
a long way around, at least ... There's little point, anyway. You must  
have noticed the sky ..."  
  
The other nodded silently.  
  
"So dark, now ... and see the stars!" She coughed, a long, painful  
hacking. "The air is escaping. It won't be long now before ... before  
the end. No, let me lie. I'll be ... more comfortable ... soon  
enough." She sighed. "Only hold my hand ..."  
  
She felt another hand, warm in her own. It was comforting.  
  
"Did I do well?" she asked suddenly. "You could tell me that, at least.  
Will it work out?"  
  
The other's grip tightened slightly on her hand. "My queen --"  
  
"I know, I know. And I never _have_ asked. But now, at the end of it  
all, what harm can it do? Tell me, Pluto. Did I do well?"  
  
  
  
-2-  
  
Pluto smiled down at her, her eyes still moist. "As you say, what  
harm?" She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Well? Well  
enough, my queen. You did not destroy them, but you locked them away  
where they could harm no-one. And the others, the children ..." She  
hesitated. "They arrived safely. They were -- they will be happy."  
  
The queen sighed. "There's more, isn't there? You're not telling me  
everything."  
  
Pluto was uncomfortable. "My ... Queen Serenity ..."  
  
The queen turned her head to look up at her companion. It suddenly  
occurred to her that it was odd that she was able to do so. "Are you  
doing something to me?"  
  
"I'm giving you a little more energy. Enough to ... to take the pain  
away, for a while."  
  
Serenity shook her head. "A waste of effort. I'm dying, Pluto. Burnt  
out. Not even Saturn could help me now." She fixed Pluto with a stern  
expression. "Tell me."  
  
"... You're right." Pluto looked away for a moment. "Beryl _will_  
break free again. In the same time period when the children will be  
living."  
  
"Ahhh ..." The physical pain was held at bay, for now; but the  
emotional pain was worse. With a great effort, she managed to sit up.  
"I feared that. Was it all for nothing, then?"  
  
"No. Oh, no!" Pluto was speaking less reluctantly now. It must be  
pleasant for her, the queen thought, to be able to talk about what she  
knew. Of all the senshi, Pluto had perhaps the harshest role; she lived  
bound in circumscriptions and arcane rules, her life one of perpetual,  
resolute devotion to a far harder task than ruling a kingdom. The  
wonder of it was that she was still sane.  
  
"Oh, you would be so proud of them, Serenity," Pluto went on. "The  
Inner Senshi, and your daughter especially. Still only young girls, all  
of them, but they fight Beryl and her generals, and they win!"  
  
"Win?" the queen said in wonder. "A final victory? I never dared hope  
for that ..."  
  
"A final victory. Your daughter ... oh, she is one to be proud of.  
There is steel in her, though --" Pluto smiled "-- one sometimes has  
to dig to find it."  
  
"I remember." The queen smiled wistfully. "Oh, but it's hard, knowing  
that I shan't see her again -- never watch her grow up ..." She sighed.  
"Is she happy, then, after Beryl is gone? Does she have a ... a mother,  
in her Earth family? Can she ..." She stopped, unable to say the  
words: [Can she love my daughter as I do?]  
  
Pluto gazed at her steadily, and Serenity nodded. "You're right. I'm  
jealous. But ... will she be happy? Tell me that, at least."  
  
"She ..." Pluto searched for words. "She has much to endure. A time  
of testing. My queen, the Silver Millennium is over, but the cycle  
moves to re-establish it. This time, on Earth. Your daughter will face  
trial after trial -- but each one will only strengthen her. And in the  
end, she will rule a Silver Millennium reborn. With her Earth prince by  
her side."  
  
"Yes ..." Serenity leaned back for a moment, resting her head against a  
shattered pillar. Her vision swam alarmingly, and she forced herself  
back upright. [It won't be long now,] she thought.  
  
In a way, she found she was looking forward to it. To an end to the  
weariness and the grief. An end to pain. And, perhaps, a reunion with  
her consort. She had devoted her life to her realm, and now she had  
spent it all to secure a future for her daughter ... for all her  
daughters and sons, the people of her kingdom. It was a good ending  
after all, and all she had to do was relax at last ...  
  
It was not enough.  
  
Her eyes opened again. "Pluto?" she said.  
  
"Yes, my queen." Serenity looked up and caught a strange expression on  
Pluto's face: sadness, worry ... but was that anticipation, as well?  
  
"Show me," she ordered. And Pluto nodded, and lifted her staff.  
  
  
  
-3-  
  
They stood in a darkened chamber. Serenity reeled at the sudden change,  
and Pluto caught her before she could fall. "Can you stand?" Pluto  
asked.  
  
"I ... I think so. Not for long. Where are we?"  
  
"Beryl's throne-hall. Just watch. Don't say anything. We're not  
physically here, so nobody should see us, but Beryl is ... well, it's  
best not to draw attention to ourselves."  
  
Slowly, the queen's eyes were adjusting to the darkness. The more  
detail she made out, the more she wished they weren't. She groped for  
words that could describe the horror of what she was seeing, but could  
find none. Twisted, warped, somehow organic-looking ... it was as if  
the walls themselves dripped malevolence.  
  
[No,] she scolded herself. [Don't be melodramatic.] She knew what the  
problem was. She was half-dead with shock and exhaustion; her body,  
damaged and failing from channelling the huge overload of power she'd  
levelled against Beryl and her forces. The only thing keeping her going  
at all was the energy Pluto was feeding her. Small wonder that she was  
feeling giddy, seeing things that weren't there ...  
  
But there _was_ something there. Something unspeakable. Her mind  
turned back to her Crystal Palace on the moon: laid waste now, but once  
it had been a place of light and life, of joy and peace. Anyone who  
entered it felt at home at once. It was nothing to do with the  
furnishings, or the architecture, or the people who dwelt there; it was  
simply that an ineffable spirit of contentment, a tranquil genius loci,  
hung over it. And that feeling, that spirit, was the exact opposite of  
what she felt now. The spirit of this place was dark, and savage, and  
hungry.  
  
It centred around the throne, and at last Serenity had to look at the  
one seated there. She had seen that figure just a few hours ago,  
standing in the ruins of her palace and proclaiming her triumph over the  
Moon Kingdom. She wondered how far forward Pluto had brought her.  
Hundreds of years? Thousands? But Beryl hadn't changed at all. Tall,  
slender ... from a distance, one might have called her beautiful. From  
a distance.  
  
"Now," Pluto whispered.  
  
Serenity stood, with Pluto's help, and watched what happened. She saw  
her daughter [O my daughter!] come in. She watched the Earth-prince,  
his mind dominated by dark powers, try to slay his lover; she watched  
the prince fall. In the end, she watched her daughter face Beryl.  
Followed the battle out, onto the ice. Watched her daughter win, the  
ghostly forms of her dead companions by her side. And as the fireball  
blossomed, as the energies burst outward, she wept.  
  
Out of that conflagration she saw an object fly, glittering, gleaming;  
something so familiar, so well-known, that she stretched out a hand to  
catch it without thinking. It was only when she felt the impact in the  
palm of her hand, looked down to see what she held, that she realised  
the impossibility of what had happened.  
  
"You said we're not physically here," she said accusingly. She lifted  
the object -- the Empyrean Silver Crystal, set in its crescent-moon wand  
mounting -- and demanded, "How?"  
  
"The Crystal knows its owner," Pluto replied calmly. "When your  
daughter dropped it, it found its way home." For just a moment,  
Serenity thought she saw a flash of satisfaction on the senshi's face.  
  
"That's not what I meant," the queen snapped. "How could this possibly  
have --" She stopped as realisation dawned. "You planned this," she  
said accusingly.  
  
Pluto hesitated. "I hoped," she admitted. "Usagi told me how she'd  
lost the Crystal, and how she got it back --"  
  
"Usagi?"  
  
"Your daughter's Earth name. It means -- well, it's a name in the  
language of the land where she was reborn."  
  
"Ah." Serenity tried the name a few times. It seemed odd on her lips:  
the name of a stranger. "This is why you were so willing to bring me  
forward to see her again," she realised suddenly.  
  
Pluto nodded silently.  
  
"You used me. I was _dying_ and you still did it."  
  
Pluto nodded again.  
  
After a long silence, the queen sighed. "I said it before, didn't I?  
'You did what was necessary.' And I suppose I did ask you to do it."  
  
Only one who had known Pluto as long as Serenity had would have  
recognised the look of guilt on the senshi's face. For a moment she  
looked very vulnerable. "Do you forgive me?" she asked in a small  
voice.  
  
The queen sighed again. "How can I not?" she said. "You gave me my  
daughter back, if only for a few moments."  
  
Pluto smiled, and there were tears in her eyes. There were tears in  
Serenity's own. On impulse, she reached out and hugged the senshi.  
After a surprised instant, Pluto hugged back.  
  
As they separated, a wave of vertigo swept over the queen. She  
staggered, gasping; Pluto reached out a hand to catch her, but missed.  
As Serenity hit the floor, the world went black. If there was pain, she  
never felt it.  
  
[And she saw a dark, shadowy plain ... and a sky full of stars. No, not  
a plain, a sea: an endless, calm sea, perfectly flat. And there, on the  
horizon ... what?]  
  
When she opened her eyes again, she saw Pluto's anxious face staring  
into her own. She felt ... strange. Detached. As if a limitless  
supply of energy lay all about her, ready to be used; but when she tried  
to reach for that energy, tap it, it seemed to flow away between her  
fingers, leaving her weaker than ever.  
  
"It's the Crystal," she said, without trying to move. "It's feeding me  
more energy, trying to heal the damage. But the Crystal is what did the  
damage in the first place. It's only making it worse." [Hastening the  
end.]  
  
"I know," Pluto answered. "We'll have to hurry."  
  
The queen raised her eyebrows with an effort. "Oh? Why, do you have  
more stops planned?"  
  
"Oh, yes," Pluto said calmly. And she raised her staff.  
  
  
  
-4-  
  
They stood on the Moon once more, in the ruins of the palace. But ...  
something was different. Serenity looked around, trying to work out  
what had changed.  
  
"The sky," she realised. "It's black now. And the palace looks ...  
older, somehow. It's as if ..."  
  
"This is the Moon of your daughter's day," Pluto said. "The last of the  
atmosphere leaked away thousands of years ago. The vacuum has preserved  
the ruins here, mostly, but prolonged heating and cooling is slowly  
crumbling the stone. There's a trace of power left that helps maintain  
things here around the palace. Over most of the Moon, the wreckage is  
hardly visible any more." She smiled. "One of the Apollo missions was  
going to land here. I had to divert it."  
  
"What? -- Never mind. Why are we here?"  
  
"We've moved back in time. It's a day or so before your daughter fights  
Beryl. Right now, on Earth, the Inner Senshi are confronting one of  
Beryl's generals. In a few minutes, there'll be a blast of energy that  
will create a momentary point of confluence between your Crystal and the  
Crystal your daughter holds. The senshi will drawn here. To meet you."  
  
The queen did not answer immediately. Another wave of blackness passed  
over her, and she had to fight to stay erect. "Go on," she managed to  
say at last.  
  
"Their memories of the past are almost non-existent. If they're to have  
the strength to finish the job, they need to know more. Who they are.  
Where they came from. What happened here. Why."  
  
"What? Pluto, I ... I don't know if I have the strength to do that."  
[Don't make me live through it all over again!]  
  
"You have the Crystal now. You should still be able to draw enough  
energy to manage."  
  
Serenity looked at Pluto silently. Both of them knew what it would cost  
her to use the Crystal again, for such a major working. But the senshi  
did not flinch. [The timeline must be preserved,] her look seemed to  
say. [Sometimes the price is very high. But the timeline must be  
preserved.]  
  
"Very well," the queen said softly. "I'll do it."  
  
As she spoke, the Crystal in her hands flickered. She felt a strange,  
cool radiance, spilling over her skin. Then it erupted in a flare of  
light that blinded her for a few seconds. As her vision returned she  
thought she saw a strange doubling. Moving lights, shadows from another  
light source, not far away. She heard voices.  
  
"I've arranged for an atmosphere over the local area," Pluto said. "You  
should go to meet them now."  
  
Serenity nodded, raised the wand. [They'll think I died, thousands of  
years ago,] she thought. [I ought to make a good entrance.] Behind  
her, Pluto vanished from sight.  
  
Closing her eyes, the queen reached out her senses to the Crystal. As  
she had feared, she could not touch it; her inner gateways were closed,  
the paths and conduits seared shut by the huge overload of force she had  
drawn. The power was there, a vast reservoir of energy, but just out of  
reach.  
  
Only life-energy could breach the gap, she realised; but she had so  
little left ...  
  
The words came back to her again. [You did what was necessary.]  
  
With ruthless force, she tore the conduits open. The power flowed. It  
burned: a cold, bright fire throughout her body, horribly painful, much  
worse than she had expected. She writhed, a moth in a flame, her hands  
clamped vice-like on the wand, her breath coming in short gasps, her  
teeth grinding as she fought for control.  
  
[... what was necessary ...]  
  
She went to meet the children.  
  
*******  
  
And afterward, seeing the burst of light as the young ones vanished back  
to Earth, Pluto stepped out from behind the base of a shattered pillar.  
The queen stood in the centre of a little clearing in the wreckage. She  
was motionless. She barely seemed to be breathing.  
  
"Are they gone?" the queen said. Her voice was soft, gentle, soothing,  
full of warmth. The voice of Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium.  
  
Suspiciously, Pluto stepped closer. "Yes," she said.  
  
"Thank you." And the queen's hands opened, and the wand dropped to the  
dusty ground. And the illusion vanished.  
  
Pluto caught her breath in spite of herself. What stood before her now  
was scarcely recognisable. Withered. Twisted. _Consumed._ The hands  
that had held the wand were fleshless, almost skeletal. The queen's  
limbs were shrunken, pale skin stretched almost transparent over white  
bone. And her face: skull-like, distorted with pain and suffering. One  
eye was red with blood. More blood ran from her nose, not dripping but  
flowing steadily. The whole front of her dress was stained bright red.  
  
She turned her head slowly, unsteadily, obviously looking for Pluto, and  
just as obviously unable to see her, though the senshi stood in bright  
sunlight.  
  
"Pluto?" she said. Her voice was a mumble, almost unintelligible.  
  
As Pluto stood staring, for a moment unable to move, the queen took a  
step forward. All at once her legs seemed to fail, and she tumbled to  
the ground like a bundle of sticks. She seemed astonished at her  
failure, and started struggling to rise, her lips moving soundlessly.  
  
The spell broke; Pluto ran forward and gathered the queen up in her  
arms. She seemed to weigh less than a child.  
  
"Too deep," Serenity muttered, her head on Pluto's shoulder, her words  
slurred and guttural. "Drank too deep at the well ..." And then she  
looked up at Pluto's face, and seemed to stir in recognition.  
  
"Mama ...?"  
  
Pluto snatched up the crescent-moon wand. The Time Gate opened, and  
they were gone.  
  
  
  
-5-  
  
Serenity was flying.  
  
The pain was gone at last, and she sailed joyously through an open sky,  
soaring and banking and diving and gliding, her arms outstretched to  
catch the wind, marvelling at the ecstasy of flight.  
  
[Free, free at last, no more duty, no more obligations, no more tedious  
courts and receptions and state banquets and endless endless endless  
work ...]  
  
The sun was low on the horizon, and as she dipped and swooped and  
wheeled with glorious abandon, she saw it set. The western sky was a  
blaze of red-gold. The stars began to come out. She flew on. Her  
strength was boundless.  
  
Night fell, and suddenly she knew she had seen this place before. An  
endless, flat plain spread out below her -- but no, it was the sea, calm  
and smooth, utterly peaceful. The sky was filled with stars, more stars  
than she had ever seen, diamond-bright. It was almost too much to bear,  
and she wept tears of joy as she flew on ...  
  
(Somewhere, a door slams open. She hears running footsteps,  
feels herself carried inside. There are voices, raised  
in surprise.)  
  
("Get Hotaru! Quickly!")  
  
("Setsuna-san ...?")  
  
("NOW!")  
  
(And more running footsteps, but she really does not want  
to hear this ...)  
  
The sea below her was clear and perfectly smooth. Mirror-smooth. She  
flew with stars above and stars below. The last of the afterglow  
vanished from the western horizon, and she glided on, easily,  
tirelessly. She felt no fear, only a breathless wonder and expectation.  
  
The reflection below her was so perfect, she could not tell where the  
sky ended and the sea began. She watched, trying to pick out the  
dividing line, and presently she noticed that the stars reflected below  
her were not the same as the stars above.  
  
She wondered if she had left the water behind, and was flying through  
space. But somehow she knew that the sea was still there ... but that  
it reflected nothing at all. Those lights came from beneath the  
surface.  
  
The sea was full of stars. A starsea.  
  
(There are cool fingers on her brow, and she opens her eyes  
with difficulty. Someone is kneeling over her, looking down  
in shock and concern. After a moment, she recognises her.)  
  
("Hello, Uranus," she breathes. It is curiously difficult  
to get the words out. "... Been a long time ...")  
  
(She sees horrified recognition dawn in the woman's eyes, and  
then Uranus bursts into tears.)  
  
(But the effort is too much, and she cannot stay ...)  
  
It was full night. There was no wind, and no sound but the steady  
beating of her wings. The coolness of the air against her skin was  
wonderfully exhilarating. She could fly all night, if she wanted. She  
could fly forever.  
  
But there was something on the horizon. Something that she could not  
quite make out. A shape, a vast curve up into the sky. Not a cloud,  
she was certain of that. She wanted to reach it, to make it out  
properly ...  
  
("Hotaru-chan, you must hurry!")  
  
("I _can't_, Setsuna-mama! She's so far gone ... and there's  
something else ... it's like the Empyrean Silver Crystal's  
power, but it's all through her body, and it's blocking me.")  
  
("She must not die! Not yet!")  
  
("I can't save her!")  
  
("Just keep her alive! Just a few hours more! That's all!")  
  
She beat her wings harder, climbing higher into the air. The shape on  
the horizon seemed to be growing closer. She could begin to pick out a  
few more details, here and there. An arc ... no, a double arc. Closer  
now, definitely. Soon she would see it in its entirety.  
  
How high was she? She could no longer tell. The air did not seem  
thinner, but she thought she could see more stars now. Ahead, the thing  
on the horizon seemed to have grown, too. It was still maddeningly  
indistinct, but she could make out more curves ... and a circle ...  
  
For the first time, she saw a ripple on the sea below her. The stars  
below her wavered. There was a faint sound in her ears. Another  
ripple, and another, and then she saw that the sky was rippling too.  
  
And the whole universe wavered and faded around her, and as the last  
stars disappeared she cried out, [Nooo! Not when I was so close!]  
  
  
  
-6-  
  
She opened her eyes. There were faces all around her, unfamiliar ...  
and yet, at the same time, she thought she knew them.  
  
"Where ...?" she began. Her mouth was dry. She could not continue.  
  
One of the strangers held a glass of water to her lips. She swallowed a  
few mouthfuls, then found she could drink no more. A name swam into her  
mind.  
  
"Uranus ..."  
  
The stranger jerked. "My queen," she said respectfully.  
  
"Queen. Is that who I am? I don't ..." The words seemed to dry up in  
her mind; she faltered to a stop. Then another word came to her.  
"Serenity."  
  
"Yes," said another of the strangers: a tall woman with long green hair.  
"Serenity. That is who you are. Do you remember?"  
  
"Pluto," she said, without really knowing why. More nonsense words came  
to her: "Neptune ... Saturn?"  
  
"You know me," whispered the smallest of the strangers.  
  
She closed her eyes, suddenly weary again. "Know," she murmured. "No."  
She knew nothing. She was only tired. She wanted to sleep. She wanted  
to fly. She wanted ... she wanted ...  
  
"Daughter," she said suddenly, her eyes snapping open. "Where is my  
daughter?"  
  
"_Who_ is your daughter?" asked the tall green-haired one. "Do you  
know? Do you remember? Do you know who _you_ are?"  
  
"I know who _you_ are," she snapped back. "Do you want me to say your  
name?"  
  
That was a real threat, she knew. But even as she spoke it, the memory  
faded, drifted away, like ... like foam on the sea ... She sighed and  
turned her head away from the tall one's suddenly-pale face. Her eyes  
fell on the smallest stranger again.  
  
"Daughter," she whispered. But that was wrong. Something ... something  
nagged at the back of her mind. [Daughter?] No, not that. But it was  
there, on the tip of her tongue ... wait ...  
  
"Saturn," she burst out. "Senshi Saturn!" And with that, at last, the  
clouds rolled away. "And Neptune ... Uranus ... Pluto. What happened?  
Where is this? I thought ... Pluto, where have you brought me now?"  
  
Pluto hesitated. "This is your daughter's time," she said reluctantly.  
"I brought you here for healing. You drew too much from the Crystal  
..."  
  
"Too much?" Serenity frowned. "No, not too much. Barely enough. I  
did not think I would be able to finish." She looked down at her hands,  
troubled by the memory. Had there been blood ...? But it was gone now.  
Her eyes returned once more to the small, frail-looking stranger.  
  
"Saturn," she murmured. "What crisis was so great that you were reborn,  
I wonder?"  
  
"We don't have time for this," interrupted Pluto. "My queen, you were  
almost dead. Ho ... Saturn here has healed you." Saturn stirred, but  
Pluto went on before she could speak. "We need to be on our way."  
  
Serenity smiled. "Before any of us can say too much, you mean." She  
sighed, and made to stand up. For the first time, she became aware of  
what she was feeling. Or of what she was not feeling.  
  
"I ... I'm numb," she said, startled.  
  
"I'm sorry," Saturn said miserably. "I couldn't do it, your majesty. I  
... I think it was the Empyrean Silver Crystal that ... that damaged you  
like this. Your body's still full of the power. I can't get through."  
  
Serenity nodded slowly. "Yes. I knew what the price would be, for what  
I did. The Crystal usually kills its holder in the end." She stared at  
her hands, rubbing her fingertips together. She felt nothing. "But  
what --"  
  
Saturn shot a guilty look at Pluto. "Setsuna said I --"  
  
"I'll explain what needs to be explained," Pluto said coldly. "You  
three can go now. And --" Her eyes flashed a warning "-- you will _not_  
mention any of this to the Inner Senshi. Is that understood?"  
  
They nodded silently and shuffled out, bowing a silent farewell to the  
queen. Serenity watched them go, bemused. "You're very harsh with  
them," she commented.  
  
"I'm not who they think I am," Pluto confessed. "I don't belong in this  
time any more than you do. I took a horrible risk in bringing you here;  
the chance of meeting myself -- the me that does belong here -- was  
quite high. But I had to come when I knew I'd be able to find Saturn."  
  
"So even you break the rules," Serenity said.  
  
Pluto simply looked at her. The message in her eyes was clear.  
[... what must be done ...]  
  
"All right." The queen tried to stand again. This time she made it;  
she stood erect, swaying a little. "It feels ... very odd," she  
commented.  
  
"A unique case," Pluto told her. "You drained yourself dry, stopping  
the invasion and sending everyone to Earth. I gave you a few more  
hours' life so you could help to ... patch a few things up, and you went  
and drained yourself dry _again_. One might almost think you enjoy it."  
  
With a shock, Serenity realised that Pluto was trying to make a joke.  
[Another unique case,] she thought. [At least in my experience.] "So  
what's the verdict?" she asked aloud.  
  
"A desperation remedy. You were dying after the _first_ time. The  
second time ... well, the reason you can't feel anything ..." Pluto bit  
her lip. "It's because you don't have anything left to feel _with_.  
It's all gone, Serenity. Everything. Burnt away. There's ... there's  
only a shell left."  
  
Serenity looked down at herself. She touched her chest. It seemed  
solid. "I feel fine," she said. "Just numb."  
  
"And you'll go on feeling fine. For a while. Saturn's power is almost  
inconceivable, but it's not limitless. And the amount of energy she  
poured into you just to give you that time is going to leave her drained  
for days. She managed to keep you ... animate ... for a while. Things  
like nerve endings had to take second place."  
  
Serenity shook her head. It was too much to take in. Simply  
incomprehensible. "I -- it's ... hard to accept," she said at last.  
  
"Don't try. You're no worse off than when I found you on the Moon,  
really. But you can move and speak, and that's enough." After a moment  
Pluto added, "Don't try to use the Crystal again, though. You're not  
... compatible with it any more."  
  
The queen took a deep breath. It still felt natural. She tried to put  
it from her mind, and said, "Do you have our next stop planned?"  
  
"Yes," Pluto said. "Now you have to give the Crystal back." And her  
staff glowed.  
  
  
  
-7-  
  
They hung in a void. A vast, empty space, it seemed; but it was so  
utterly featureless that Serenity knew there could have been walls all  
around her, just out of reach. She might be motionless, or moving at  
great speed. She could not tell.  
  
"What is this place?" she whispered.  
  
"Limbo," Pluto said. "Nullity. Nothingness. Ginnungagap. The void  
outside the universe. Call it what you like." After a slight pause she  
added, "We're here to meet your daughter."  
  
"_Here_?"  
  
"Usagi is facing her second great trial. Without the Crystal, she's not  
doing very well. In a few moments, the creature she's fighting will  
open a gateway, and Usagi will be pulled through. She'll end up here."  
  
"Will she ... be able to see me?"  
  
"You, yes. I'll be out of sight." Pluto hesitated, then went on, "It's  
best that you don't tell her how you got here. She hasn't met me yet,  
in this life."  
  
"All right. Then what should I tell --"  
  
"There!"  
  
Serenity looked. Far away, an unguessable distance across the void,  
there was a spark of light. When she looked back, Pluto was gone.  
  
She sighed. [All right, then,] she thought. [What do I say? What can  
I tell her?] The spark of light grew closer as she watched. Soon she  
could make out details. It was her daughter, naked, huddled into a  
fetal ball, and with her ... was that ...?  
  
The queen laughed silently. Luna! So the cat-guardian had found her.  
Good. At least that much of her plan had worked, then.  
  
The two came closer. Serenity prepared to met her daughter again.  
  
*******  
  
Pluto appeared once more after the princess and the cat had departed.  
"One more stop in this time, and we can move on," she said.  
  
"What else?" the queen asked patiently.  
  
"The sceptre. Usagi will need that, too."  
  
"But I don't have -- oh. Thank you." Serenity took the sceptre,  
holding it carefully. One of the ancient treasures of the Moon Kingdom;  
she had seldom touched it before. "Why couldn't I have given it to her  
when she was here just now?"  
  
Pluto shrugged. "Because that's not the way it happened." Serenity  
opened her mouth to argue, and the senshi added, "My queen, do you  
really want a lecture on causality?"  
  
Serenity sighed, then laughed. "I can't argue with that." She looked  
down, checking her grip on the sceptre. [What if I drop it without  
noticing? It's heavy, but I can't feel the weight ...] To Pluto she  
went on, "How do I do this one, then?"  
  
"Well ... apparently, you fly overhead and drop it to Usagi."  
  
Serenity eyed her warily. Pluto's face was impassive, but she had a  
sneaking suspicion that the senshi was trying not to laugh. "Not very  
dignified," she commented at last.  
  
Pluto shrugged. "That's what Usagi told me you did. And Mercury  
confirmed it, later."  
  
Serenity sighed. "The things I do for that girl."  
  
*******  
  
Unseen, they watched Usagi dispatch the creature she'd been fighting,  
and free the four trapped Senshi. They watched the sunlight return.  
They stood in a park, and there seemed to be some kind of celebration  
going on.  
  
"She does have a certain ... style ... with the sceptre," Pluto  
commented.  
  
Serenity shot her a wry glance. "Making fun of your future queen?"  
  
"Perish the thought ..."  
  
The two looked at each other and shared a laugh. It was always good to  
see Pluto laugh, Serenity thought. The senshi had no peers, and very  
few that she had ever called friends. That Serenity was one of them,  
was one of the queen's proudest accomplishments.  
  
"I like these trees," she said. "What are the flowers called?"  
  
"Cherry blossoms," Pluto answered. "Yes, it's always a lovely time of  
year when they're in flower. The whole country celebrates." She looked  
at the queen, seemed to hesitate, then visibly made up her mind. "Can I  
ask you something?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"How ... did you know my name?"  
  
The queen blinked. "Oh! I'd forgotten about that." She thought for a  
moment. "My mother told me it, a long time ago. I imagine she had it  
from _her_ mother. I suppose I should pass it on to Se ... Usagi."  
  
Pluto laid her hand on Serenity's arm. "No. Please. Let it die."   
They stared at each other for a few seconds, and Pluto repeated softly,  
"Please."  
  
"All right." After a moment Serenity said, "You're the only one left  
who attaches any importance to that, you know."  
  
"I know. But let it die. I have another name here ... now. No doubt  
I'll have others in the future. Let that one go."  
  
The queen nodded. They walked through the park in silence for a few  
minutes. At last Serenity said, "Shouldn't we be moving on? Where's  
next?"  
  
Pluto raised an eyebrow. "Here and there," she said. And she grasped  
her staff ...  
  
  
  
-8-  
  
... And they travelled on, through time and space ...  
  
  
  
-9-  
  
...Until at last they came to a small room in a high tower. A balcony  
looked out over a great, glittering metropolis, full of light and life.  
It was mid-morning, and the cloudless sky was a clear, brilliant blue.  
The moon was visible near the horizon: a thin, perfect crescent.  
  
Pluto lowered her staff. "Last stop," she said.  
  
Serenity went to the balcony and stood looking out over the city. Pluto  
came and stood by her. "It's beautiful," said the queen.  
  
Pluto nodded. "Welcome to the Crystal Millennium," she said softly.  
  
Serenity bowed her head. "Thank you. I don't belong here ... but thank  
you."  
  
They stood in silence for a few minutes. The air was cool and sweet,  
and very pure.  
  
"It's almost over, isn't it?" said Serenity presently. "I ... feel  
tired. I think I'd welcome a rest."  
  
"Yes," Pluto said. "Only a few minutes left, I think. There's just one  
task left for you, and then you can rest, my queen." She pointed.  
"Through that door. You'll know what to do."  
  
The queen turned to go, but was stopped by Pluto's hand on her arm. The  
senshi looked at her for a moment. She was smiling. "Serenity ..." she  
said gently. "You have been my queen ... and my friend. Remember.  
There is room in the world for Grace."  
  
Serenity nodded, not trusting herself to answer, and stepped through the  
door.  
  
There were several people in the room beyond. She did not know most of  
them, but she recognised Endymion at once. And the woman on the bed was  
unmistakable. And then she realised what was happening, and began to  
weep. "Thank you," she whispered. "Oh, thank you."  
  
And she stood watching, unnoticed, as the firstborn child of Queen  
Serenity and King Endymion was born, and at last her heart was light.  
  
When it was over, and the babe lay on its mother's breast, too newborn  
yet to suckle, she stepped forward for a moment. She brushed a hand  
over the wisps of hair on the child's head. "Granddaughter ..." she  
murmured.  
  
And finally, her daughter. The Queen. She laid her hand on Serenity's  
forehead, and whispered, "Goodbye, my dear. I love you."  
  
And as the Queen of Crystal Tokyo looked up in wonder at the touch, and  
felt the warmth and love of an unseen presence, and said, "Mother --?",  
the Garnet Staff flashed and they were gone.  
  
  
  
-10-  
  
They flew together, beneath a midnight sky, over a sea full of stars.  
The queen looked over at her companion. "This isn't your place," she  
said.  
  
"No," Pluto agreed. "I'm only here to say good-bye."  
  
They began to climb. Far ahead, the shape on the horizon seemed to  
drift closer, becoming ever clearer.  
  
"I am the guardian of the Gate of Time," Pluto said. "But this ..."  
  
Higher, they flew. Higher. And slowly, the focus seemed to shift, and  
Serenity began to realise what she was seeing.  
  
"... This is the final gate."  
  
It was an eye.  
  
"The gate that opens only once for each person."  
  
Slowly, as they flew ever higher, the rest became visible. A face,  
larger than worlds.  
  
"The Midnight Gate."  
  
A young face, with wisdom and kindness in its eyes. A gentle smile.  
And on its forehead, a crescent moon.  
  
"Good-bye," whispered Pluto, and Serenity flew alone. She sped onward,  
never glancing back. And the Midnight Gate opened for her, and she was  
gone.  
  
"And perhaps," whispered Pluto, "perhaps someday I too will be allowed  
to pass."  
  
Her Staff flashed, and she too was gone.  
  
THE END  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's Notes:  
  
This story, obviously, is based around events in the anime episodes  
titled (in the dub) "The Past Returns," "Day of Destiny" and "Cherry  
Blossom Time."  
  
It started out as a mere vignette, and (like, I suspect, many fanfics)  
grew far beyond my expectations. I intended to write a simple scene in  
which Serenity lies dying, and Sailor Pluto comes and speaks to her for  
a few minutes before her death.  
  
Only ... it occurred to me that the queen would probably ask about her  
daughter's future. And Pluto, knowing that she is dying, might well  
answer. And if I was going _that_ far, why not have Pluto _show_ her?  
  
By then I found that I'd given myself the chance to explain a number of  
plot holes in the first two series of SM. For example, the question of  
Serenity's ghost (I'm ignoring the manga explanation of a hologram). If  
it's been hanging around the Moon since the fall of the Silver  
Millennium (and why would that be, anyway?), how did she get hold of the  
Empyrean Silver Crystal after Usagi lost it? And so forth. And I  
started wondering if maybe it _wasn't_ a ghost.  
  
A word about this business of Pluto's real (birth) name. We can be  
reasonably sure that it isn't "Meiou Setsuna" (unless Japanese really is  
a universal language). But why was Pluto so upset at the idea of her  
true name being revealed? I deliberately didn't explain, because I  
wanted to suggest that there's a lot of history behind the two main  
characters, and we'll never know it all. You can probably come up with  
an explanation yourself, if it really bothers you. I came up with three  
without difficulty.  
  
Anyway, that's enough from me. For now.  
  
Angus MacSpon  
macspon@mac.com  
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/  
  
Revision: 13 February, 1999. 


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